Travel Around/ Outside of Costa Rica

There are many opportunities to travel in between classes and it is great to take advantage of them. Be sure to check the weather before you leave as rainy season differs depending on which Coast and what time of year you travel.

Getting to San
Jose

If
you need to go into San Jose early in the morning (like between 4 and 5AM) you
can just go on the main road in Ciudad Colon near the bus stop and share a collective
taxi with random people (the taxi driver will just keep picking people up until
it is full) and they will only charge you about 500 or 1000 colones to cab up
to San Jose because the taxi’s need to go up there anyways. Normally a trip to
San Jose is A LOT more expensive than that so it saves you A LOT of money! You
could wait for the bus at 5 am but you will probably arrive in San Jose with
very little time to catch your connecting bus. The other option is to share a
pirate taxi and pre arrange the night before, however this still can be quite
expensive so it is better if you know you will fill the taxi.

Trips within
Costa Rica

It
is best to try to get to the bus terminals early (read above regarding what
time a bus will get you into San Jose) as the bus currently departs for the
Caribbean Coast at 6 am. Once you get to San Jose Coca Cola station you NEED to
take a taxi to the Caribbean terminal. I have had to stand for 5 hours as I
didn’t get a seat. The buses will continue to sell tickets even when there are
no seats so beware. Similarly, if you know your return date I suggest you buy
the ticket upon arrival for the above reason of getting a seat. Generally, the
buses are coaches and have room for luggage underneath. They tend to stop about
halfway through your journey (usually after 3/ 4 hours) at a rest stop that
sells food and has facilities.

Trips outside
Costa Rica

(Read
Plane Ticket Required)

Americans,
Canadians, Europeans, and those holding an American VISA are able to leave the
country before their student VISA arrives. Those from other countries,
especially Africa, it is wise to not book tickets home during the winter break
until you ensure you can leave the country without your temporary VISA. All
students are required to have a Costa Rica student's visa however, in most
cases, this takes almost a full 10 months to get so if you plan to travel to
other countries, depending on what national passport you hold, you should be
prepared to stay the full duration of the academic year in Costa Rica.

By Bus

It is highly recommended to pre buy
these tickets before you leave for San Jose as these buses tend to fill up
especially around the holidays or festivals going on in the location you are
trying to get to. Buses to remote location in Costa Rica or the bordering
countries are also available at a low cost through Tica Bus and Transnica among
others. You can book online or go directly to their office in San Jose. If you
go you need your passport to buy the ticket. Tica bus is usually the most
expensive but is the nicest. These buses will drop you off at the border and
pick you up at the other side. Sometimes the bus drivers have connections and
you may have to give them your passports so you can speed up the immigration
process instead of waiting in long lines. To get to Bocas Del Torro in Panama,
you will have to take a bus from the Caribbean bus terminal and then walk over
the bridge into Panama and you will find pirate taxis or the public bus on the
other side.

By Plane

There is a
process to leave the country which requires paying an exit cost about $26 U.S.D.

Plane
Ticket Required

In the general information PDF
that was sent to me after I was admitted to UPEACE it said that students need
to have a return flight when traveling to Costa Rica and would be forced to
purchase an expensive ticket if caught by the airline or immigration officials
traveling on a one way flight. I tested this hypothesis thrice.

First I flew to San Jose on US
airways. I was not questioned when boarding my flight from Houston whether I
had a return flight. When arriving in Costa Rica I was greeted with a smile and
no question asked.

I subsequently traveled to Costa
Rica on a one way flight from Habana, Cuba and from Miami, USA without any
problems.

On all three flights I was not
questioned by the airline nor by the immigration officials. I don't know
whether it had something to do with being a German passport holder.
Similarly, if you're leaving the country and coming back to Costa Rica, make
sure that you have printed proof of a ticket (or a fake reservation) that you
are leaving Costa Rica. Others have had trouble with this when trying to re-enter
the country both through land boarders like Nicaragua and Panama, as well as
people flying through the U.S. Student have had to find computers and print off
the e-ticket as proof, sometimes requiring them to go searching for a computer
and almost missing their bus/ airplane.

Cost of Travel
If family members intend to visit you the costs of travel is much lower (almost
half) the cost of travelling to Costa Rica from January to May when graduation
takes place. High Season in Costa Rica makes the price of traveling very
expensive so pre book flights very early.